March 19, 2014 -- Santa Barbara, CA – Transmap Corporation has successfully inventoried 238 centerline miles of signs and signals in the City of Santa Barbara to determine if all regulatory and warning signs met minimum retroreflectivity requirements. Transmap used data from the MUTCD Nighttime Assessment methods Calibration Signs Procedure and Consistent Parameters Procedure to create a sign management program for Santa Barbara. This includes nighttime retroreflectivity and formatting data to be implemented into the City’s Cartegraph™ system.

Transmap is a national provider of professional, technical, and management support services to the transportation industry that specializes in the mobile data collection, processing, and inventory of roadway assets. With a highly effective and experienced project management team, Transmap provides an incomparable customer-centric approach to implementing desired outcomes.

Santa Barbara is a Southern California city that is a year-round tourist destination known for its enjoyable weather, downtown beaches, and Spanish colonial architecture. Its population is approximately 90,000, but is a diverse representation of our country.

The setup process of the City of Santa Barbara sign and signal inventory project began with a kick-off meeting where technical staff members and project managers discussed the overall timeline, reporting requirements, technical exchange, and team member responsibilities. Next, Transmap mobilized the ON-SIGHT™ system to the project area by deploying a Transmap ON-SIGHT™ mapping vehicle, equipment, and required staff to the City of Santa Barbara.

After performing a review on the digital GIS centerline provided by Santa Barbara, Transmap produced maps for the City to accept the roads that will be driven and analyzed as part of the road network. Once the image collection process was completed, Transmap posted all images on their web-based image viewer which allowed the City to log on to a web page and view a basemap, orthophotography, image locations, and all extracted assets from the project. Once the ON-SIGHT™ mapping started and field data was processed, Transmap began the process of extracting signs using ON-SIGHT™ imagery and ground-based LiDAR. A total of 20,074 signs were analyzed, with 3,663 signs receiving nighttime inspection. Transmap automatically loaded sign data into Cartegraph™ for processing and analysis and ensured that all data was complete before loader files were turned over to the City. The signs were delivered in both Esri geodatabase and Cartegraph™ SignView.

Transmap has created a Deficient Sign Plan for the City, in which they report on deficient signs and include suggestions on how to upgrade them. The City of Santa Barbara is able to manage their sign data on the web using an ArcGIS Online site.

Nick Cabugos, the City of Santa Barbara’s Maintenance Supervisor, was very pleased with the services provided. “Transmap inventoried all of our sign assets in a very descriptive and simple data format that was easily downloaded and transferred to our Cartegraph™ work order system. Their team of experts flew in to California from Ohio, and met with our team which consisted of our Engineers, IS team and Street Maintenance Supervisor,” he said.

“We look forward to the post service and training support provided for the next five years. Whenever I needed support or to hold a telephone conference to update IS (Information Services), Craig Schorling, GISP, Vice President, was just a phone call or simple email away.”

Transmap is confidently providing the tools necessary for the City of Santa Barbara to make intelligent decisions on sign life cycles. “After these reparations are made, the City of Santa Barbara will be a safer and easier destination to navigate. The improvement to the visibility of its signs will provide significant benefits for the City and its thriving tourist economy,” explained Howard Luxhoj, PE, President of Transmap. With this knowledge, the City will be able to produce budget scenarios, work orders, maps, and many other management strategies necessary to improve overall efficiency.